I guess they saw this pic yesterday while showing my friends surrounded by them...Do they have eyes too?

Traiters they are,after all I do for them!

Our poor Gardenias..they're waiting for sun, warmth and humidity..where is it? If 2009's summer over? In July? Toni

Well I am glad I was able to make someones day...

Now I need to find a way to keep my gardenias happy!!

I hear ya on the weather..STINKS!!!!!! I did loose one plumies..It tooks it toll. I hate this summer..Then fall before we know it!! I have been depressed too...ouch

Consetida, keep laughing, becuase you havn't even seen how vicious our denias can be to us once October rolls around..This place will be hoping with us trying to look for help on how not to murder our plants!!

Nice scene ha...That was me before I took a tumble and sprained my wrist!!

Take care all,

Mike

Mike, please do me a favor..before bringing your plants indoors come autumn, please spray them..promise me..okay?
Use my insecticide recepie plus Fish Emulsion. What will it hurt? Right? If it doesn't work, so be it, but at least give it a try. There's nothing in it that will kill your plants, and the FE also works as a foliar feeding. After spraing, then bring indoors..Before spraying, if possible, hose off foliage, stems, branches, etc..let air dry..then spray with the insectide. I do this before bringing plants in the house..It's been a long time since finding an insect on any plant. Will you do it? Toni

Yes it is me, and thanks for the compliment..lol. I rather think it was a terrible picture...lol
It was taken just this march on top iof Cannon mountain in New Hampshire..I love snow boarding and skiing!

My wrist healed fast with having message therapists, chiropractors and workout buff friends to help me get better..LOL...They know nothing of plants though, except my buddy from Mexico..

I PROMISE..I will spray...

Do me a favor..k
When you start treating your plants before they come in, let me know, and remind me of what to do..ok
I would really appreciate it...

Hey toni.....Do you miss merciepoo? I SURE DO!!!

I also miss Rick, and many others. God, I hope they are all doing ok...

Much love,

Mike:-)

Do you suppose your gardenia might be a male and is so insulted you are calling it a she, that it is not going to be nice to you? hahahahaha

You too funny too.....I hate this summer too..It is only 68 degrees today and 60's tommorrow. Rain rain, rain, and mold, slugs, mosss, weeds, and anything but the growth of my plants properly.. But my container plants although smaller than usual, are so GREEN!!! Lol. Like Ireland.
Wait, they are getting a heatwave all summer. Is something wrong with this picture?
If toni doesn't come to the rescue, I will.. I know she will though. Her magic recipe has svaed all my plants from the pest invasion! Second to the the evil gardenia nimphs!

Mike..:-)

Mike thanks for the offer to come to the rescue with the insecticide recipe. My plants will apreciate and so will I!
Today sunday is raining again! Depressing!

To me, it is a myth that that they need miracid.
You can learn alot about fertilizers and how they work in the container forum.

What I use on mine is foiliage pro. Epsom Salts, and Iron are a help, but I havn't had to use them this year.
Just get a well balanced fertilzer with all the minors if you can. FP has this, and I ordered mine from online.

How much sun does your plant get? Does it get morning and late in the day sun?

Here is a very most important thing. Because of your area, not the hot tropical and sunny area,your plants vitality and performance is abosolutely depenadant on the soiless mix you use from growing leaves to flowering.
If your denias feet are getting a good supply of oxygen, you will have no problems getting it to flower profusely as you have seen my pics.

Please, take a gander to the other side, the container forum, and see what even yellowthumb says about denias.

You will do well, and can ask as many questions to us as you need be. I forgot the rest you asked, because when I went to refresh my page, i lost the thread, except what I am writing..

Mike

I normally give my denia all day sun except from 12:00 to 3pm. Or full day if I forget to bring them in the shade. If they have healthy roots, they love the sun and the heat. Remember, more sun, more water usage, more frequent to water, more air to the roots and most importantly more sugar produced. Bigger plants and more flowers.

Once you get all the environment factors right, fertilizer is not as important as you think. Your container mix is the most important factor and your current mix is a NO NO in Montreal area. Your only chance is to use extreme fast draining mix like gritty mix.

Yellowthumb has hit it right on again....
HIi yellowthumb! Hope it has finally warmed up there. It has here. You would be suprised what 3 days of sun and hot can do three days in a row..lol

Nice Picture Mike!! Wish I could send you guys some of our hot and humid weather...we still have almost two more months of it,lol

Love that picture!!

Hate to say this, but gardenia is very easy in my area. As long as you grow them in the ground, they take care of themselves. Sorry for the folks in the north, but at least you can skii in the summer.

Happy gardening

Changsong

Well it was 80 today, and my gardenias are talking about having a barbecue tonight!! Don't know what they are going to eat since all the pests they could of ate are still gone....

Hi nancy!!! Watch your mail for the enxt few days..:-) :-)

Hope everyone is well...

I actually got a SINGLE bloom on it in late August, didn't take a picture because I thought it would send out more buds, but isn't the case so far. It got the bud when it was inside the house with less light. The plant must be confused, because it set none when I gave it lots of sun. Stupid plant, lol! I also realized that I enjoy the lemon flowers more than gardenia flowers (as far as the smell)! They both were blooming at the same time, and the little lemon is setting some little fruits and has a new crop of flowers again, it's a great plant! Nice deep green, not sure what I'm doing right!

I'll send an updated picture of the gardenia when I reinstall my software for my camera. I actually had to prune it a little, it was getting so big!

Wondering, can I prune it in fall, or is it too late? The leaves that are shaded in the plant are turning yellow for lack of light.

Hope you guys are all doing great!! :)

Glad to hear from you!!!...You like the picture ha? My gardenias didn't and niether did the spidermites..lol

You know what, I bet if all else fails and your denias turn violent again, you are going to do away with them, and LOVE your citrus...

I am coming closer and closer to just having these occupy the space in my house, and bringing the denias to work into full sun, since they never want to bloom all winter anyways..It is the citrus that bloom for me without fail. And boy, do they smell good ha?

I am so glad your back..At one point everyone thought a gardenia attacked you and had you left for dead.lololol

Everyone here missed you. Everyone. Hey come to think of it, where the heck has Toni been now that your back?

Funny, when I ignore my gardenias to, like when I stop worrying about them, they do awsome..I think they like playing with our minds..

Get ready for winter as the pic shows..Any time you want to skiing with us, just let me know, and bring your gardenias along for the ride..lolo

P.s...Please go see the citrus forums..You'll get a laugh there,and learn sooo much. A great bunch of people there....

Mike..:-)

Please check it immediately..Make sure the roots are not turning brown and that your soiless mix is not staying wet for more than a 3 days or more at a time..

If so, you need to get in into a soiless mix that drains fast and drys fast asap..It probably stopped drinking a while ago, when the temps were dropping to cold levels, especially at night, causing the roots to slow down way more than usual.

If your roots are ok, then we can all go from there.

Is it in alot of sun indoors..? That is the next thing we'll tackle..

Mike..:-)

From what you said, the amount of light would be the culprit, if roots are fine..

We'll see. I have heard certain things about artificial lights that I wasn't aware of till recently..So let me make sure then I will come back with info for you..ok..:-)

LOL Mike! If my gardenia doesn't survive winter, I'll send it on a ski to your place. ;D

Yeah, where IS Toni? I missed you, Butterfly and Puglvr and everyone else! Sorry I was playin' hooky. This time I wasn't in jail. :D

AWSOME to see you giving advice again..Are you getting a little braver now? lol..It is so nice to see you here helping again!

No rosie, it probably doesn't have a disease, it is just what happens to gardenias when they are not comfortable. They rebel!! Read the suicidal thread. They drop their clothes as merciepoo says.

They are very picky about root temperature, light, soil, fertilizer, humidity and sun, not to say they and spidermites make great companions..
I know a Bonsai expert whos been in the buisness over 30 years, who says he would NEVER sell or grow gardenias, ever..He says they are one of the most stubborn plants to grow in captivity, even in his greenhouse.He would rather breed rats!

To me, only the brave and tough, the ones willing to take on the challange will find it enjoyable to figure these plants out.

How do we do it? By eliminating one problem at a time, which usually starts with the soil, then roots, then light, then temps, the bugs and so on, get it? ;-)

If it it not getting enough "SUNLIGHT" it will have a problem. If it were getting enough sunlight, then I would question at what temps do you keep the roots at?

If the roots, soil,and lighting are ok, let's go from there ok..At least that 3 out of thousands of posibilities eliminated..lol

Ps. It can be done. You may go through a few denias to fine tune your care, but you'll get it, I am sure of that. Alot here are succesfully growing them, even up here in the great ole Antartic!

Goodluck,

Mike:-)

Thanks Mike!

I don't love snow, however- seeing snow is painful- did you get any last week??? Two weeks BEFORE Halloween? Yikes! But you must be thrilled!

I skied off my back door steps with my plants! lol

What is going on with this weather? Do you think we are heading to an ice age? Yikes!